Extra Me

The other day Gracie was talking about dressing up for Halloween, and her ideas made me laugh. She told me I could dress up as a hula dancer. I told her that being a hula dancer sounded like fun, and then asked her if she was going to dress up as a hula dancer, too. She said, "No, I just want to be extra me." Extra Gracie. I'm not sure I can handle that! :)

We don't celebrate Halloween and Gracie has never gone trick-or-treating. Her idea of dressing like a hula dancer came from Meet Molly, one of the American Girl books we read recently, in which Molly and her friends dressed up as hula dancers for Halloween. Even though we aren't going to celebrate Halloween, we still may make hula costumes like Molly and her friends did because Gracie enjoys dressing up and acting out the stories that we read. :)

Little Things Matter

This morning I had some errands to run with Drew and Gracie along, and I realized that sometimes little things can be a big help and encouragement.

I had a package I needed to send via UPS. In the parking lot of the UPS Store I was carrying Drew and holding Gracie's hand, while she carried the package. (Gracie had asked if she could carry the package for me. She is such a good helper!) A gentleman asked me if I needed help carrying anything, and although I didn't need any help this time, I really appreciated the offer.

After sending the package, we went grocery shopping. When we were done shopping and the groceries were loaded into the car, I was getting ready to take the cart to the cart return when a woman came by and said she would take the cart for me.

These were two small things, but they made such a difference to me. They really made my day, and also made me realize that I need to look for little ways to help others. I shouldn't get so caught up in what I need to get done that I forget to offer a smile, a kind word, or a helping hand. The little things really do matter.

Christmas in September

Last weekend I was shopping at a home improvement store with my family and as we were walking through the store I noticed that they were already putting up displays of Christmas trees and ornaments. I do enjoy the holiday season, but it's only the middle of September! I think they are bringing out the decorations a little bit early.

Having said that, I must now confess that my husband bought my Christmas gift (and gave it to me) on Friday evening. I have been wanting a laptop computer ever since I dropped and broke my old one over a year ago. Choosing a new computer was a little bit hard for me, though. It's so much fun to look at the sleek, expensive computers with all the bells and whistles, but I'm still a little bit afraid that I will drop another computer. (I am a huge klutz!) I also know that since my main computer use consists of checking e-mail, surfing the Internet, and keeping track of our budget in Quicken, I don't really need a top-of-the-line computer. I ended up choosing the least expensive laptop that the store had, and I hope that it will last well if I take care of it.

Lapbooking Links

As Gracie gets closer to school age, I am starting to look for some fun "school" activities to do with her occasionally. This fall another mom recommended lapbooking to me. Gracie loves to cut, color, and glue things, so I think it will be a good fit for us.

Lapbooking on Squidoo provides a good introduction to lapbooking and has a lot of links.

Homeschool Share has some free lapbooking resources. I especially like their templates.

Homeschool Helper also has a nice lapbook page with some templates.

Lapbook Lessons has some free lapbooks.

Mini books

For purchased lapbooks, I like In the Hands of a Child. I hope to purchase their Type It In Template Pack sometime soon.

Sandy Lane Beach

My house has felt like a zoo for the past couple of weeks. Drew loves to explore, and has started getting into everything. This morning as I was packing my husband's lunch and doing some other morning chores, Gracie came running through saying, "We're playing on Sandy Lane Beach." Sandy Lane is the name of the beach in an interactive DVD game Gracie plays occasionally, so I thought she was just having fun with her imagination, as she often does.

On my next trip through the kitchen, I thought to myself, "hmmm ... the floor feels a little bit gritty. I definitely need to sweep the floor this morning!" Still, that's not anything too far out of the ordinary around my house.

A few minutes later, Gracie was laughing, saying "Drew got the salt shaker and put salt all over." Finally it dawned on me. Drew had scattered salt all over the kitchen and dining room floor. The salt was the grit I was feeling underfoot, and was the "sand" for Gracie's Sandy Lane Beach.

Just the start of a typical day around here lately.

Just When I Needed It

I'm slowly getting through the stack of books that I started reading all at once ... I am somewhere in the middle of six books right now (down from eight). The book I hope to finish reading next is called Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. It talks about the story of Mary and Martha found in Luke 10:38-42.

I read the second chapter of the book today, and it was the encouragement I needed, just when I needed it. In it the author talks about the "Three Deadly Ds of Destruction," which are distraction, discouragement, and doubt. I have definitely been distracted and discouraged this week. It was encouraging to realize that I'm not the only one who asks, "Lord, don't you care?" ... that Jesus does care and that he wants me to come to him for rest.

Why?

Gracie's favorite question these days is "Why?" She asks why about almost everything. I love the fact that she is expressing her curiosity. Sometimes, though, she asks me a question, and as soon as I finish explaining it, she says "Tell me again, why?" Occasionally I turn it around and ask her to try to explain it to me.

I am reminded of a quote from the book I am currently reading, Home Education by Charlotte Mason:

"The child must think, get at the reason why of things for himself, every day of his life, and more each day than the day before. Children and parents both are given to invert this educational process. The child asks 'Why?' and the parent answers, rather proud of this evidence of thought in his child. There is some slight show of speculation even in wondering 'Why?' but it is the slightest and most superficial effort the thinking brain produces. Let the parent ask 'Why?' and the child produce the answer, if he can. After he has turned the matter over and over in his mind, there is no harm in telling him––and he will remember it––the reason why."

(I am really enjoying the book! It can be read online on the Ambleside Online web site.)

Sometimes Gracie asks why when I tell her to do something. When I was little, I told myself that I would never answer the question "Why?" with "Because I said so." Now that I'm a mom, I have said that more than once. Sometimes when I ask her to do something, there really isn't any compelling reason that she should do it except that I am her mother and I expect her to obey.

Sometimes Gracie's "Why?" just strikes me as funny. Today at lunch she kept sniffling and blowing her nose. Finally I concluded that she must have a problem, so I asked her about it. She said she had some paper up her nose. Fortunately, it was where I could see it, and she was able to blow it out easily. I then instructed her to never put objects up her nose. I should have anticipated her response: "Why?"

Playing Outdoors

This week I have been reading Home Education (Volume 1 of the Original Home Schooling Series) by Charlotte Mason. One of the things that Miss Mason emphasized is the importance of allowing children to spend time outdoors each day for fresh air, exercise, and observing the natural world. I have been feeling a little bit guilty because I know Drew, Gracie, and I don't spend nearly enough time outside.

Two summers ago, before Drew was born, I was doing a little bit better at letting Gracie play outside each day, and she loved it. Last summer when Drew was just a baby, I didn't want to get him out in the hot summer sun too much. I had high hopes for this summer ... but then early in the summer we had a cookout in our backyard and Gracie got 13 chigger bites. Poor girl. After that, I was hesitant to let them play in our yard, and I haven't been very good about taking them to the park to play.

We did make it to the park today, and I hope we will make it more often now that the weather is cooling off a little bit. Drew and Gracie both played in the sand and got dirty ... just like kids should. Drew practiced his climbing skills on the slide, and they both enjoyed swinging on the swings and just running around.

I guess I'm just not an outdoor kind of girl, but I'm working on it.

When will I go to real school?

This morning as we were driving down the road, Gracie saw a school bus filling up at the gas station, and asked, "When will I go to real school?" Gracie knows that she will be homeschooled, but as she sees friends her age going off to preschool, and her older friends climbing aboard the big yellow bus, I think she feels like she is missing out on some grand adventure.

This is not the first time she has asked, and I am never quite sure what to tell her. How do I explain to a 3-1/2-year-old that spending her days with her mommy and her little brother, reading books together, doing chores, and experiencing life is about as real as it gets? How do I reassure her that she will learn to read and write and do math and have adventures and field trips and friends even though she will be homeschooled? Are there any books that explain to a young child how much fun homeschooling can be?

This morning I told Gracie that she would get to go to school at our dining room table until she was ready for college.

"Then will I get to go to real school?"

"Yes, Gracie. Then you will go to college." She seemed satisfied with that. For now.

2007 Reading List

I borrowed the idea from Becky's blog (What Becky Thinks) to keep a running list of the books I've read this year. I'm planning to use the same 1-10 rating scale that she uses, with 1 being the worst rating and 10 the best. Since I can barely remember what I read last week, let alone four or five months ago, I'll just start now and add books as I read them.

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson (10)

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (10)

A Thomas Jefferson Education by Oliver Van DeMille (10)

Home Education (Volume 1 of the Original Home Schooling Series) by Charlotte M. Mason (10)

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World: Finding Intimacy with God in the Busyness of Life by Joanna Weaver (10)

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (10)

Just Beyond the Clouds by Karen Kingsbury (10)

Summer by Karen Kingsbury (9)

Having a Mary Spirit: Allowing God to Change Us from the Inside Out by Joanna Weaver (9)

Echoes by Kristen Heitzmann (9)

Aesop's Fables (8)

Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker (9)

Finding Father Christmas by Robin Jones Gunn (8)

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay (9)

Rocketeers byMichael Belfiore (9)

Clutter's Last Stand by Don Aslett (10)

The Christmas Quilt by Thomas J. Davis (8)

Cleaning Up the Clutter by Emilie Barnes (6)

Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax (9)

Being Molly

A week or two ago my mom sent Gracie about a dozen American Girl books that she had bought at her library's used book sale. I had been thinking about reading some books to Gracie that were a little bit longer and more complex than the picture books we usually check out from the library, so these came at a good time. I think they will be fun stories for Gracie, and I like the fact that they give a picture of what life might have been like for a girl living in a different time period in our country's history. (I do occasionally have to skip a word or two (dumb, for example) that I don't want to be part of Gracie's vocabulary, though.)

We started reading about Molly, a nine-year-old girl living in 1944. Gracie has seemed to really enjoy listening to the stories, and it has been fun to watch her act them out in detail. I think Gracie's favorite book about Molly is Molly Saves the Day by Valerie Tripp. Molly Saves the Day is set at Camp Gowonagin, where Molly went for summer camp. For the last week Gracie has been draping blankets over chairs to make a tent and pretending that an empty laundry basket or diaper box is her canoe. It is funny to hear her narrate her actions as she acts out the story: "Molly climbed into her canoe..." and she's off on another adventure.

This afternoon I started reading Meet Josefina (set in New Mexico in 1824) to Gracie. We've only read two chapters so far, so it will be interesting to see if she relates as strongly to Josefina as she did to Molly.